Barcelona: La Vida Literaria (1903?). 95pp. One of a series of pseudo-scientific publications on salacious sexual subjects. This volume includes a bind-bending selection of topics, including sex with animals, "prostitución masculina... la pederastia....los putos de Buenos Aires....etc." Good in rather worn wrappers. Uncommon. More
Buenos Aires : Editorial Claridad, [193-?]. 15pp. More
Barcelona: La Vida Literaria (1903?). 95pp. Six issues of a series dedicated to an assortment of pseudo-scientific examinations of sexual subjects. In addition to explanations of the causes of impotency, uses of aphrodisiacs, prohibited sexual positions and problems associated with celibacy, two issues include an extensive analysis of homosexuality: "diferencias entre el pederasta y el homosexual.-el amor homosexual en Francia- una practica repugnante de los Templarios-la pederasta en Turquia....sodomia en Italia, China....un defensor de los pederastas." Generally very good in lightly worn wrappers, some browning to covers. The series resembles that produced in Paris around the same time by the Librairie des connaissances médicales. More
. [California 1989-1990]. Boy with Arms Akimbo. [California 1989-1900]. A group of material from this anonymous AIDS activist collective working in and around the Bay Area from 1989-1992. Taking a more provocative and confrontational stance than many other activist groups, they used guerilla art tactics to promote a pro-queer-sex message in the wake of Jesse Helms’ 1988 amendment banning federal funding for AIDs education programs. More than 4000 posters (several documented here) were pasted around San Francisco by BWAA and their work spread throughout the country. An early adopter of DIY and anti-copyright aesthetics, the encouraged appropriation of their texts, projects and iconography- including their eponymous logo. As the Queer Cultural Center noted when they included BWAA in their 2011 Queer it Yourself exhibition: “The group also welcomed and documented the informal contributions of passerby who improved, defaced or otherwise modified its street graphics.” Included are: Sheet of 10 “Sex is /Just Sex” stickers; One 57.7 x 43 cm poster for a Canadian Micah Lexier exhibition poster on newsprint prominently reproducing the Boy With Arms Akimbo motif; Five double weight gelatin BW photographs, one 10” x 8” , the others 16” x 20” (with one duplicate, but processed at a different exposure with different parts of detail shown) all showing various interventions at (and on) the Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco; A small (12pp) 16mo. Xerographically reproduced pamphlet Boy with Arms Akimbo: His Story (San Francisco: Healing Tales 1989). More
A collection of 95 posters (1985-2010) from 14 different countries including the USA (15), Spain (17), Australia (4), Cuba, Portugal, Austria and others, all of which relate to AIDS prevention. Very good, with folds on several and a few small closed tears at edges. Various sizes. More
Paris: En vente chez tous les libraires, [1907-1911]. The quite rare first edition of this gay erotic novel, bound with Ludovic ou Le Prédestiné à la Pédérastie, published by Elias Gaucher between 1907 et 1911.Perceau 296; Pia Enfer, 604; Dutel 398. Very good in original wrappers. Rare. More
Paris: En vente chez tous les libraires, [1907-1911]. The quite rare first edition of this gay erotic novel, which had a political dimension in advocating freedom of sexual expression- "Qu’autrui nous laisse donc jouir en paix et qu’il jouisse lui-même en toute tranquillité..." Very good in marbled boards, wear at edges, wrappers not present. Quite rare, only three institutional copies noted. Perceau 296; Pia Enfer, 604; Dutel 398. More
Amsterdam and Paris: Aux depens d'une Socièté d'Amateurs [Marcel Seheur]. (1936). This uncommon and controversial text on pederasty bears an introduction by "Bramatos." The illustrations however are missing in this copy. Pia 12. One of 250 hand numbered copies, this example #26. Very good in original salmon colored wrappers and contemporary 3/4 leather binding. Quite uncommon. More
Paris: Jules Gay (1861). 78pp. The first appearance in French of this disquisition on the authorship and history of infamous pederastic treatise, Alcibiade fanciullo a scola. The publisher, Jules Gay, issued the rare text in Italian and in French several years later and was condemned for the book in 1868. The present edition was translated by M. Gustav Brunet, who has added a "postface" and notes containing a vast amount of material on the subject of pederasty and sodomy. Ashbee (Index) 29. Not listed in Pia. One of 254 numbered copies (#7). Uncommon. A good copy in contemporary 1/2 leather boards with decorative spine and marbled endpapers, front and rear hinges cracked, small portion of lower spine missing. Uncommon. More
Amsterdam: F. van Rossen (1908). 78pp. Aletrino was a prolific Dutch writer and a lecturer on criminal anthropology in Amsterdam and was one of the earliest Dutch advocates of homosexual rights, widely respected in his field. In 1903 he visited Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin and discusses his observations in Hermaphrodisie en uranisme. See Bleys, The Geography of Perversion: Male-To-Male Sexual Behavior Outside the West. Very god in original wrappers, small signature on front cover, light sunning to edges, light spotting to foredge. More
Paris: Librairie Artistique. Soft cover. Very good in illustrated wrappers. More
NP: ND (1931). This important and explicit gay novel about the love between two men appeared anonymously in 1931 in a small edition of only 90 numbered copies (this is #27). The author, a close friend of André Gide, lived in Carcasonne for most of his life and published several other books of poetry, but this work is his rarest and most explicit. Published by the famed publisher of erotic texts, René Bonnel, and with an explicit engraved frontispiece by the Catalan artist Pere Créixams, the work has been described as one of the great treasures of erotic literature. Quite rare, with the original erotic frontispiece laid in. A near fine copy in green wrappers. Pia 1283. More
Le Chesnay: Imprimerie Moderne (1930). 10pp. Soft cover. A scholarly review of the existing theories of homosexuality and androgyny, which draws a distinction between true and "pseudo" inversion. Very good in wrappers, light sunning to covers. Uncommon. More
Paris : Eugène Figuière (1925). More
Berlin: Fischer (1895). The first edition of this cult classic (The Garden of Knowledge"), published when the author was only 19 years old. Leopold von Andrian zu Werburg (1875–1951) was an Austrian noblemen and the largely autobiographical novel tells the story of a young noblemen struggling with his homosexuality. Andrian's novel crystalizes the crisis of identity experienced by Austrian artists and intellectuals at the fin de siècle and was admired by Hugo von Hoffmanstahl and Stefan George. A very good copy in original wrappers, covers lightly worn and browned. More
Washington: Guild Press (1966). One of the milestones of modern gay literature–a "Dante journey into a dark and underground world that may shock or repel, but will surely fascinate." (from dust jacket blurb). A good copy in good dust jacket by Etienne, with closed tears, small chip at edges, some water staining to verso of jacket, light water stain to rear paste down, offsetting to front endpaper, internally quite good. More
Berlin: Schwules Museum (2004). 8pp. Essay on the gay painter, known for his portrayals of male strip clubs. Very good in stapled wrappers. (German). More
A chained prisoner and guard having sex. Pen and ink mounted on card (6.5" x 9"). Penciled number "47" on bottom right corner. From the collection of Sam Steward. More
Paris, Vendome, 1934. 83pp. One of the odder Vendome publications, generally noted for its scandalous publications with enticing covers. Very good in brown wrappers, light wear to cover. More
Les Grandes Etudes Francaises de Psychiatrie (1956). Soft cover. The confessions of a 43 year old married man and his life as a transvestite. Very good in wrappers, some cover wear with small repaired tear. More
Paris: Fort: Collection anti-clericale (ND). A re-edition of the original 1884 edition of this early gay novel, also issued by the same publisher. Very good in red wrappers with cover illustration by Léon Roze, small edechips and wear, penned notation on endpaper. Quite rare. More
London: Murray & Co. (1907). Hardcover. An unknown author’s first book, executed by a publisher known for his Uranian texts. Attractively produced volume- oblong in blue paper over boards and label, light browning to endpapers, spine label lightly worn. More
NP (1789). 8pp. A quite rare evolutionary pamphlet which violently lambasts "sodomites". The writer frames his assault on the "execrable, unworthy race" of bardaches as a "Hymn au Con." ("bardache" was a word implying a male prostitute or catamite.) A number of such pamphlets appeared during this period, including Les Enfants de Sodome à l’Assemblée nationale, which appeared the following year. These vitriolic works were often used as political tools to discredit former elites and to make them appear depraved. See Merrick, Homosexuality in Modern France. Pastorello, La sodomie masculine dans les pamphlets révolutionnaires. Pia Enfer, 1004; Gay-Lemmonyer III, 444. Very good in 1/4 morocco binding, marbled boards and endpapers, light wear to edges. Quite rare. More
Sydney: Angus & Robertson (1920). An uncommon collection of sonnets with a distinctly Uranian cast. "The words procured by Gregory Thornton and illustrated by Willem Blaeu. Very good in printed boards, small inscription on pastedown. More
[Paris 1899].16pp. The Victorian-era erotic pamphlet detailing the exploits of twelve year old Maud and her incestuous relationship with her father. The tale is set on a Southern plantation with twelve slaves, some of whom are eventually led into the erotic entanglements of young Maud. The story ends with her father engaged in carnal intercourse with her and one of the male slaves simultaneously. Very good in original pale green wrappers, light sunning to edges. The work is quite rare, with no institutional copies and only a passing reference [P35] in Mendes (Clandestine Erotic Fiction in English 1800-1930: A Bibliographical Study). More